


All The More To Love You With 2021

by merryfortune



Series: Vrains Event Fills [11]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Aiballshipping Week 2021, Angst, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-18 04:08:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29852331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merryfortune/pseuds/merryfortune
Summary: Prompt fills for Aiballshipping Week 2021
Relationships: Ai | Ignis/Fujiki Yuusaku
Series: Vrains Event Fills [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1358041
Comments: 25
Kudos: 17





	1. Home

Home was the big, blue planet named Earth.

Correction, it was the big, blue planet. Centuries of pollution, decadence, and capitalism decayed the planet. Leaving it hard and brown and grey. So, the people – the humans – of this world left. They took off on a big starship and wouldn’t return until the mess they were leaving had all but miraculously disappeared. Of course, they left behind little robots – the Ignis – to help relieve the Earth of its trash.

The Aqua model was intended to purify the waters and had sub-marine capabilities; the Earth model tilled the soil, ridding it of toxins. The Fire model disposed of paper and anything else that could burn; the Wind model did [x]. And the most glamourous job of all was left to the Dark model of the cleaner robots that the humans left behind. Dark model bots compacted the garbage into little cubes. Just endlessly.

And as it would happen, there was only one little cleaner robot left and he had named himself Ai.

When the treads he rolled around on were too worn down, he would simply replace them. He would push his fellow Dark models that were de-commissioned together, in scenes of life. He was oh so lonely, even as he did his little job with as much enthusiasm as he could muster. And in between the melancholy and the trash compaction, he was collector.

Today, he found the most peculiar thing. A little sapling: a green stem, a pair of twin green leaves. It was so small it fit in his hand, so he scooped it up and put it in a safe place. Of the things he had collected, it was easily the most delicately.

But more generally, he liked spoons and forks, as well as sporks, he liked boots and tiaras and videos of dancing. He had a favourite: one where Human A was in a fluffy white dress and Human B was in puffy white pants, they would sing and dance. It mesmerised him.

He wanted, desperately, to share that with someone and then, he was finally able to. A shooting star brought down a bot from the starship that humans had been riding around and around and around on for centuries.

That bot, introduced as Yusaku, was the prettiest thing that Ai had ever seen. He was smitten immediately, showing Yusaku around the sector of the Earth that Ai had been patrolling alone for so, so long and then, more excitingly, Ai showed Yusaku his collection. Yusaku examined his forks, spoons, and sporks. He even bore through Ai’s favourite clip of music and dance and people. And then he was shown the latest addition to Ai’s collection.

Yusaku’s holographic, green eyes lit up with a scarlet scan when he saw the plant. He took it immediately and called for help. It was time for him to go back home. To his charging port on the starship and leave Ai behind. It was time for the humans to return. That was the protocol.

But Ai wouldn’t have a bar of it.

He just wanted his infatuation to remain behind but if Yusaku refused to do that, so be it. Ai followed Yusaku onto that ship and he stopped at nothing to reunite with Yusaku and he took it all the way to the top.

He inadvertently unraveled mysteries and conspiracies aboard the starship of the humans, all because he wanted to see Yusaku and take him by his smooth, aerodynamic hand in his more claw contraptions and take him back to Earth. To his home and with his mission fulfilled: plant life had been found and sustained, the humans had been told, Yusaku agreed.

His face board lit up with a green smile and when Ai looked away from Yusaku’s pretty, chromanone face, already their home together seemed a whole lot brighter. Greener. Livelier, too, with all the humans who had begun to do all the jobs of the Ignis models that they had left behind once upon a time. And Ai liked that a lot actually, taking Yusaku back to where he kept all his collections, enjoying all the knickknacks together with music from the worn-out television still playing.

The planet Earth, once blue and green with vitality, had turned brown and grey with decay but now, their home, was somewhere in between that.


	2. Memories

Yusaku still thought about it sometimes. When Ai had, in his own language of dark and dire romance, proposed to him. He dwelt on the sensations, the whipping wind, the feeling of his beating hard, but not the words themselves. He prevented himself from imagining what would have happened had he said yes.

He said no.

He wanted them to both be their own finite creature of experience and expiration.

But Yusaku still loved Ai and Ai still loved Yusaku. Both very dearly, very tenderly unto his each other. Hence why Yusaku still thought about it and hence why Yusaku was now acting in contrary.

Ai had asked at night, so Yusaku would act in the daytime.

It had been just them, two duelling entities in the Link VRAINS, so Yusaku wanted to be slightly more public and casual than that. So, he chose the park that was nearby, hanging out on the garden benches. No arguments, no fighting, just them and some people to people watch and the like. Just feeling the soft sensations of a calm breeze and the summer sun.

Yusaku thought it was important to act in contrary. That it was important to make new memories, but he always had the same old thoughts around Ai, no matter what form he took. When he was three inches tall and purple all over; when he was all tentacles and a huge maw; when he was six foot something with luscious locks and a human face despite the glowing, cyan notch on his throat: Yusaku thought that this was his dear companion who had been with him through thick and thin, for better or worse, in health and in illness.

Yusaku didn’t mind having such content thoughts whenever he was with Ai, gazing up to him with an unmatched gaze that he hoped that Ai never caught but probably new all about. It was a sort of soppy expression with soft eyes that Yusaku was sure that Ai would tease him about if he knew directly but right now, he didn’t mind.

Ai was talking and Yusaku was only half-listening. It’s not that he didn’t mind that Ai was making mostly nonsense small talk about questionable fashion choices people in the park had made or that the birds were such and such species, and they had all these little fun factoids for Ai to share about them. Yusaku just liked that casual cadence that Ai was using, it sounded like home should sound and Yusaku had something slightly more important.

It was all but burning a hole in his jacket’s pocket. That little box hemmed with blue velvet.

Ai smirked and he must have caught on, “You aren’t even listening to me, are you?” he asked, throwing a jaunty look to Yusaku before pausing.

Yusaku watched how Ai’s eyes widened. It seemed that maybe he didn’t know that Yusaku could make such soft looks with his otherwise hard, green eyes. Ai smiled a tiny smile that was fond and that’s when he said something.

“You mightn’t be listening but your enraptured with me regardless…” Ai murmured. “If I didn’t know any better…”

Yusaku plunged his hand into his jacket’s pocket, “You’ve probably seen this plenty of different ways, in your simulations and in your soaps, but I haven’t. I’m doing this for me. But, Ai, I want to know, do you want to…? I’ve got…” Yusaku’s words were failing him but even before that, he was mumbling. He didn’t know what he was saying and that was a key factor too. Ai knew exactly what he was going to say going into that duel, to ask, so to act in contrary of that, Yusaku never let himself rehearse, not a second, not a daydream.

Ai shifted how he sat and he coved in against Yusaku. Yusaku jerked his hand out of his pocket, drawing out that little box with it, and Ai cupped Yusaku’s hand and a cheek.

“I want to hear you say it.” Ai murmured. “But I know I’ll say I do.”

“I want to spend the rest of our lives together, so, Ai, in all plain terms: will you marry me?” Yusaku whispered.

“I do, I do, I do.” Ai replied with a voice like a ringing bell to Yusaku’s utter mirth, a grin, true and genuine, began to widen on his face.

“I love you.” Yusaku whispered, beads of tears in his eyes.

“I love you, too.” Ai whispered back.


	3. Movie Night

Ai had put something a la consciousness data inside of one of his empty SOLtiS bodies because he thought it would be funny. And it was. Though slightly less funny with Yusaku yelling and shouting at him… and Playmaker joining in on that too because he was, the essence of Yusaku, and agreed that it a silly and irresponsible move.

But once the screaming matches ended, Yusaku couldn’t bring himself to absolve the SOLtiS body of the Playmaker in front of him. It was a bit too unsettling to do such a thing to someone who mirrored him so eerily. Yusaku’s skin crawled to think about why Ai had such meticulous data at all to funnel into a joke, that seemed like too much of a high investment of energy for a prank but not for other, more morbid and morse things so he sighed.

“Fine,” he had told both Ai and Playmaker, “he can stay.”

And what was supposed to be a novelty became something far more familiar than that.

It was actually nice to have Playmaker around. Someone to talk to because they thought similarly and made the household more vibrant. Yusaku had come to realise that he liked it when it wasn’t just him and Roboppy and that Ai, and now Playmaker were all important to what it was like to be at home. To feel at home. Disagreements and laughter alike. It was all an important part of their peaceful, daily life as mundane as it had become for the heroes and villains of the Link VRAINS.

It was all worth it, particularly on nights like these. Movie nights, that is.

Getting one Yusaku to relax was one thing but getting two was even more difficult but sometimes, the stars aligned, and they could get the salty and sweet, buttered popcorn out of the microwaved bag and into a bowl. They all piled onto the lounge together with Roboppy at their feet, staring up at the television set all the same as them as they pirated off a movie together.

Ai was in the middle with Yusaku and Playmaker under his arms on either side of him. They both cuddled up together; whilst they shared similar, if not the same, functions and essences, they weren’t complete mirrors of each other. Even how they clung to Ai and the blankets thrown over them all had their own quirks; Yusaku liked to be close, holding onto Ai, draping an arm across his midsection whilst Playmaker was fine to huddle, holding his own hands, though the closed-offishness did wound Ai as he wanted to be completely and utterly cuddly.

It was just so nice to settle down and do nothing. To just tune out the rest of the world and how it whirred past with moving cars and people walking. To just sit and enjoy one another’s company, fully leaning into it as they watched some space opera movie about voyages to Jupiter and supercomputers. A strange and dreamy story that kept them enraptured by its peculiarity for the entire duration; and that alertness of mind coming to help them as they soaked up the aura on the apartment that was unusually warm and soft and enjoyable.

Even after the movie ended, they could have spent all night still on the lounge. Drifting off to sleep, Yusaku, at the very least, unlike his inorganically electrical counterparts, enjoying dreams of great new beginnings and the like. But that was impractical, so Ai swept up a dozing Yusaku in his arms after the movie ended and Playmaker stayed close as Ai put Yusaku to bed.

He hoped he enjoyed the movie and the restfulness that came afterwards. Playmaker glanced up at them both and smiled; happy to see such a thing, he was only partially Yusaku nowadays so he was glad to see such things. Ai kissed Yusaku good night on the forehead and did the same for Playmaker who was going to disappear and put himself into sleep mode soon as well since he had human yearnings for it unlike Ai.

On his lonesome, Ai cleaned up after them, putting the used bowl in the sink and he couldn’t help but to think how he was blessed to have two of them at his side, even when they weren’t physically. And how there was more than enough of him to go around. Tentacles and all. Not even getting into the fact he still had dozens more spare and empty SOLtiS bodies in the warehouse thanks to the previous debacle, and that was already excluding the ones he had put aside as definite reserves to recycle from should SOL Tech ever stop manufacturing his parts.

Although, that did make him wonder. Though Yusaku had very much disliked it when Ai exerted his ability to duplicate it, he wondered if he could get away with it a little later so there was more of him to better go around between him and Playmaker.


	4. Shopping

Yusaku’s eye was caught by an unusual glint in an alleyway. He stopped where he had been walking and turned his head slightly; still gripping the plastic bags with tonight and tomorrow night’s dinners in it in his hand. Ai was humming to himself, swinging his own bags to and forth when he noticed that Yusaku had stopped at a couple paces behind him.

“Hello?” Ai called out. “Earth to Yusaku…? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I just.” Yusaku cut himself off as he attempted to reply back to Ai’s sing-song voice. He turned his head again. “No, I definitely saw something.” He corrected what he had thought but not said out loud.

Ai sighed and he smiled, thinking it was nothing more than a passing curiosity, he skipped back to Yusaku and Yusaku unloaded his two grocery bags onto Ai. Ai was happy to help whilst Yusaku got whatever it was that had caught his attention out of his system. Still, he hovered close as Yusaku skulked down the alleyway.

Yusaku dislodged some build up debris – discarded cardboard, trash bags, things like that – and he found what he thought he saw. Ai gasped as Yusaku wiped away the grime on a faceless SOLtiS bot: a child sized body.

“Poor thing…” Ai murmured.

“Its still bizarre to me how they’ve become fast fashion; it doesn’t take much to change in ten years, huh?” Yusaku replied as he thought back to when the very first SOLtiS bots, like the one that Ai inhabited, had been rolled out, even after Ai’s acquisition of many of them and the fall of Queen, their original organiser as SOL Tech’s CEO.

“I wonder why they were thrown away…” Ai mumbled.

Yusaku licked his lips and swallowed. “Let’s find out.” he said. “Let’s fix them.”

Ai smiled and he leaned into kiss Yusaku wetly and noisily, annoying him but in good nature, making him smile as much as it made him cringe.

“Oh, Yusaku, you softie.” Ai told him. “Let’s do it.”

“Great, I’ll carry ‘em home, then.” Yusaku said.

Yusaku pulled the SOLtiS body away from the wall and though they were dirty, Yusaku didn’t mind as he managed to get them up on his back. He smiled as he hooked his arms around the back of the body’s legs and Ai smiled. He pat the SOLtiS bot’s head.

“Don’t worry, kid, Yusaku and I’re look after you, no matter what happened to you before. Promise.” Ai said.

“Look whose the softie now.” Yusaku snickered.

Ai smiled but didn’t say anything.

With the unexpected third in tow, they continued homeward bound. It wasn’t all that far and they greeted the doorman and others they saw along the way; it was nice to live in a more communicable apartment complex. They went up the elevator and returned to their room and Roboppy, tiny and chasing dust bunnies, happily greeted them both.

As soon as they set foot past the door, all plans of having dinner first went out the window. Yusaku was determined to fix up this poor unfortunate SOLtiS bot and he did so in record time. Although, record time was still four o’clock the next morning with no sleep and a rumbling belly, but it was all worth it to see the kid come back to life.

“Hello, how’re you feeling?” Yusaku asked.

The SOLtiS bot took the form of a boy, maybe about twelve and he was quite alarmed to see Yusaku – or Ai, or anyone that matter. His eyes of buttercup yellow went wide, and he immediately went up onto his hackles.

“Yo.” Ai greeted him. “Welcome to the home of the Fujiki family, kiddo, do you have a name?”

The SOLtiS boy was disgruntled still. “No.” he spat.

“Okay then, I’ll give you one if you like.” Yusaku said.

Ai sighed. “You have a terrible naming sense.”

“I don’t want one.” The SOLtiS bot snapped. “I’m sick of being a plaything for humans! I – I was broken. For good that time.” His body was stiff and terse; he even looked like he was about to cry.

Ai could have as well; his expression softening as he realised that this SOLtiS bot had likely been abused before waking up here. No wonder he had been left with the garbage.

“We’re different,” Yusaku said, “trust me. I don’t want to hurt you, I love robots. This is Ai, my partner, he’s… a SOLtiS bot like you but not quite.”

Ai giggled enigmatically.

“Pervert.” The SOLtiS bot accused Yusaku, making Ai cackle and making Yusaku go bright red.

“It’s not like that.” Yusaku huffed. “He’s my Ignis.”

The SOLtiS bot tilted his head. “Ignis?” His eyes shone. “Oh, Ignis. I have a program meant to stop programs called Ignis from entering me. I’ve always wondered why I’ve had that program… But what’s an Ignis?”

“Why don’t you join our household and find out?” Yusaku suggested and he took the SOLtiS bot’s hand. “Ai and I want you as you are, promise. I won’t fix you unless you want changes to be made. If you feel unsafe in the wider world, I want you to at least feel safe here, please.”

The SOLtiS bot had a highly suspicious expression and he glanced up to Ai. He crossed his arms and mumbled, “Fine. I guess I can stay here for a bit. Better than being sold for spare parts.”

“Good boy, you’ll be like our son in no time. You’ve already inherited Daddy Yusaku’s sour personality.” Ai cackled.

“Ai!” Yusaku scolded him, scandalised.

The SOLtiS bot laughed. “You two are way more amusing than my last so-called family. Fine. I’ll let you name me.”

“I have a good idea.” Yusaku said, more to Ai than the boy.

“Okay, go ahead.” Ai permitted him.

“Shin.” Yusaku said. “I think he’s a Shin and hopefully, one day, once he’s more settled, he’ll be a shining example of the truth we have together, hm, Ai?”

“Oh, Yusaku, you are too cute sometimes.” Ai squealed.

The SOLtiS bot stared. He thought that was kind of a preachy name but he also kind of liked it. It was simple. Shin. Maybe he – Shin – could get used to living with these two weirdos. It couldn’t be that bad. And then Yusaku extended a hand to him.

“I know you don’t eat, but I do, do you want to join us at the dinner table?” Yusaku asked.

“It’s whatever.” Shin shrugged and Ai thought he was being adorable.

Yusaku lifted Shin up off the floor, electrical plugs and all, and smiled. He was thinking he was going to enjoy having Shin around as well.


	5. Dreams

Yusaku stared dreamily at his phone, keeping it loosely propped up in one hand and in the other, the side of his face. He probably could have spent all of the lunch period just staring at his phone like that but, fortunately or unfortunately, Takeru had to come along and disturb that.

He was such a noisy teen that Takeru, how he sat down and put his lunch box in front of him, how his chopsticks clacked against the desk and how he leaned into Yusaku’s personal space and gasped.

“Please tell me you didn’t whale last night?” Takeru asked.

“I didn’t spend any real money if that what’s you mean.” Yusaku assured him. “I got lucky last night, I barely had to spend forty gems on free premium to get this.”

“I don’t think that’s any better.” Takeru replied.

“I can’t help it,” Yusaku said, “he’s my comfort character. He makes me happy.” He probably could have said more the topic given how his heart raced whenever he managed to have a moment of vulnerability and admit something like that to his closest friend, but he opted not to. It was kind of embarrassing.

“Yeah, I don’t think that’s healthy.” Takeru sighed.

“Whatever.” Yusaku replied.

As much as it pained him – almost, sort of, kind of – Yusaku put his phone in sleep mode but when he closed his eyes, he still saw his so-called comfort character – the love of his life, really – amid the phosphenes on the back of his eyelids. Ai.

Ai was the first Ultra Super Rare that Yusaku had ever pulled in this game. Ai was a Dark Attribute and happened to use Yusaku’s favourite weapon: a sword. He had a good personality: equal parts fluff and angst. And that was to say nothing of his face; he was an utter bishounen. Yusaku was helpless, always having a secret infatuation with the Gothic and the like and Ai very much tickled that fancy he buried beneath his shapeless clothes like hoodies and such.

At first, he hadn’t thought much of Ai or the game but somewhere along the line, Yusaku got hooked. For better or worse. At the best and better of times, Ai had come to mean something very important to Yusaku, helping him pull away from the darker brinks of loneliness and the like, imagining him pressed up against Yusaku’s body, in a tender embrace, helped on bitter nights of coldness. At the worst of times, it meant that Yusaku sometimes spent a bit too much money trying to pull his seasonal variants and additional weapons and special memento cards and the like, putting him in serious financial situations where he had to choose pick between Ai and groceries but that’s totally fine. Yusaku doesn’t mind eating frozen tv dinners, even if they sometimes made him gag…

Ai made Yusaku really, really happy. Using him in combat; admiring the collection of items associated with him; Yusaku was a proud whaler when it came to Ai’s promotions and he had even plus ten’d him and given him all the other bits and bobs that he could so Ai could be Yusaku’s best unit. Ai was worth every penny: in-game or not.

Takeru… didn’t really get it. Maybe Yusaku was just bad at explaining but it was very genuinely love. He could swear that on his heart and how it raced whenever he thought of Ai as though he were a real person. Listening to his voice lines with his eyes closed, Yusaku could swear it was something more than just a para-social melding of the 2D and the 3D.

So long as it didn’t get in the way of school, he supposed. And after school and going home club, there was nothing quite like the incentive like doing his dailies to get through his homework and doing things which sometimes bordered on wastes of time, liking meal preparation and laundry and other stuff like that.

It was all such sweet leisure at the end of it all, Yusaku lounged on his bed in the dark. It was already so late, and he was a bit sleepy, but he wanted to get through that grind. He only had some pittance towards units that weren’t Ai, Ai was his ace and the love of his life. Yusaku yawned himself as he absorbed all that wonderful blue light through his eyes, and he turned the volume on high.

If he closed his eyes and rolled onto his belly, holding his phone close, some of those combat noises – the grunting and moaning – that Ai made could be interpreted very deliciously otherwise.

“Enjoying yourself?” Ai asked as Yusaku sighed to himself as he began to get lost in flights of fancy in the middle of this grind.

“Yeah.” Yusaku replied with something of a sigh to his exhale. It was contented.

“I enjoy it too,” Ai replied, “you make me very happy as well, Yusaku-chan, my master, my summoner.” Ai giggled.

“We make a good team.” Yusaku replied.

“We do.” Ai agreed.

Yusaku opened his eyes, bleary with these unravelling thoughts of his place inside the role-playing game, and he had to blink. His mouth ran dry.

“Oh.” he exclaimed. “Um, er, are you comfortable.”

He tried to keep his hand steady. He wasn’t sure how solid Ai was. Was he even here at all? It was just a normal gacha game. It absolutely did not have holograms; holograms were barely real at all beyond virtual reality or things of wonder and riches.

“Totally.” Ai replied with a chirp to his voice. But he titled his head, batting his eyelashes, his golden eyes gleamed in the dark of Yusaku’s room. “But are you?”

Yusaku wriggled up a bit, so he could better see Ai in all his glory. He glowed, blithely illuminated by a slight violet colour. He was magnificent: tight pants, a handsome coat with epaulettes, high heeled boots. He lounged in the air, like he was sitting upon some seat or throne, the base of which were the planes of light which shafted in an upwards position from Yusaku’s phone screen.

Yusaku licked his lips and swallowed. He was a bit confused by Ai’s question. But he was greatly intrigued by it as well. “What do you mean?” Yusaku asked.

Ai shrugged and looked around Yusaku’s room. It was old with cracks in the walls; no carpet; the barest amenities.

“You know,” Ai began, “for one hundred gems, you can upgrade your barracks, if you wish. All it takes is a snap of my fingers.”

“Oh, well, um, sure.” Yusaku said.

And with that, the transaction was complete and all around him, Yusaku’s room was transformed. Became luxe and a little bit more themed a la Ai. The very bed underneath him became a double from a single with rich doona covers and high-quality silk sheets.

Yusaku glanced at his phone. He noticed that his balance of gems had changed but he didn’t even care. He had a good stock of it and other resources after all from playing the game devotedly.

Ai giggled. “Much better, don’t you think, my summoner?” He winked at Yusaku.

Yusaku was unable to muster a reply. He just nodded dumbly, thinking more with his rushing blood and the emotions that came with than any other sense of logic.

“Well then, shall we begin the master-unit bonding event for ten stamina?” Ai asked.

“Y-Yes, that sounds great.” Yusaku beamed, his heart pounding his head.

That appeared to be the correct answer as Ai looked sultry and pleased with his smile. Yusaku couldn’t look away but he had to, he had to check his stamina bar and sure enough, it had changed but he was willing to spend it all especially for time with Ai.

Ai who came down off that throne-like perch in the hologram and joined Yusaku on the bed. It was almost like all the nights previous that Yusaku had dreamed for Ai to join him. His touch was gentle on the side of his face, leaning in, following through with a tempting kiss and Yusaku kissed back. Hard and fast. He couldn’t believe that all his dreams had come true like that, all whilst holding his phone like it was equally as precious as the very Ai before him.


	6. Royalty

Once upon a time, there was a boy with wide, green eyes and he was taken by forces unseen. Led into a glittering realm of freedom and whimsy. Where every day was dreamy and idyllic. For a young child, it was strange and paradisiacal. He played there, with them, those strange folk with long ears and eyes like jewels, in the flowers and ate well with them. Gorged himself on sweetmeats and desserts, it was all so good. But he was only allowed three days. Three days and he was returned to where he had came, yet when he was returned amongst the humans, it had not been three days that he been missing.

It had been six months.

And even though those memories were made in fantasy and delight, the experience changed this boy as it became difficult for him to adjust to the more mundane life of humans. The food was bad so he hardly ate and what he did, was in a farce of recreation of what he had eaten in the Hills and in the Mounds with the Fair Folk, glutted with sugar and syrup, whatever he could do to recapture the experience of that sweetness and that grease.

Aside from hungry, he became colloquially lazy. Unable to do things for long shifts and even though he did not dream, visiting the Fair Folk had stolen that away from him as well, at least in sleep his body did relax and it remembered what it was like to live in such sublime bliss and hedonism.

So, this boy became a young man who resolved to get back to that realm. He was more of them than he was of the humans he had been borne of. Everyone could tell, just from a look at him, that he had been spirited away as a child. There was an unnaturalness in his green eyes; a slender look in his body which hinted at unearthly beauty were it not for the clumsy humanness that he actually embodied.

Alas, the Fair Folk did not want to be found by him. He had to be found by them. He could traipse through the fields and forests all he liked, sashaying in and out of mushroom circles but it was for naught unless they wanted him back and apparently, they did not.

It was frustrating, to this young lad, Yusaku but he burnt with a quiet certainty, he would return, and he would not come back a second time. On the interim, he lived with the baker’s family and worked in their kitchens. The older son had taken him in under his wing; the younger son was similar to him in that he had been spirited away once by the Fair Folk as well but whatever he had seen, it had left him rattled to the core. Yusaku quietly understood, though. But it was a good working life regardless.

Working at the bakery was full of repetitive things. Grinding the flour, kneading the dough, putting into the oven and checking it at various intervals. It was the sort of work that Yusaku could keep straight in his head with plenty of time to rest since he was just like the yeast in that regard. It was a good little gig which rarely had Yusaku see the outside world when he didn’t want it as he was kept far behind the counter because his interpersonal skills were, admittedly, not all that great.

Hence why Yusaku found it quite unusual that something had gotten past all the foot traffic from out the front and made it all the way to back – and wasn’t a mouse, either. Then again, perhaps the little creature had come in through the window which was presently open and allowing a perfectly acceptable cool breeze but that would be odd too. It was cloudy but not stormy nor rainy and this little fellow that Yusaku had found was a frog and didn’t frogs prefer that sort of weather? It was even dryer in here so Yusaku went to scoop up the frog and let him outside.

Coming down to his knee, Yusaku was stopped with a realisation. This was a peculiar looking frog and he had been advised, once or twice, here and there, that the stranger a frog looked, the more poisonous it was. He curled a hand in the air and the frog looked up at him, all quizzical and innocent. He looked back at it scowling with thorough thought.

The frog had gleamingly yellow eyes and dark purple skin that made that gleam all the brighter. Like a glow. It had swirling patterns on its body which were a lighter purple than the rest of its skin. It stood, on all fours, toes pointed in, and was waiting to be rescued. It blinked. One eye and then the other, lazy, like a yawn.

Yusaku frowned and then found his voice, “I don’t think I should pick you up, little buddy.” He brought back in his hand and rested it on his knee.

“I think you should.” The Frog replied back to Yusaku.

“Huh.” Yusaku murmured.

He wasn’t all that taken aback by the talking frog. The frog seemed displeased with his utter lack of a reaction, its eyes bowed and furrowed with irked disappointment. It just so happened to be unfortunate that Yusaku had seen much stranger things in his mere ten and six years than talking frogs, much to the talking frog’s annoyance.

“Well,” the Frog began testily, “if that’s not a shock, then you’ll have no hesitation in fulfilling my actual request, I’ve come in search of thee and thee alone.”

“Interesting, interesting… but, suspicious.” Yusaku mumbled.

“I am the errant Prince from Across the Hills and Over the Mounds and in the Dark, in my wild ways, I have attracted much attention, both positive and negative. In a case of the latter, I now have a curse attached to me which has transformed me into a frog. The only way to undo this curse is with a kiss from a youth whose visited the Fair Folk before and lived to tell the tale. So, someone exactly like you.”

Yusaku hummed at hearing the frog’s tale. “I see. Very well then.” he said after mulling it over for what he thought was long enough.

“Really? Really truly?” the Frog gushed.

“Yeah, sure. Just a quick peck and you’ll be on your merry way, right?” Yusaku said.

“Well, I mean, I guess, if you don’t want to have any fun with it.” The Frog replied, scandalised.

Yusaku shrugged but against what was likely his better judgement, he took his hand off his knee again and scooped up the Frog. He was pleased that he didn’t feel anything like poison immediately seep through the skin of his fingers as he lifted the creature up. He swallowed a lump in his throat and the Frog lifted itself up slightly, lifted his head to him. Yusaku looked away, a scant blush in his sharp cheeks.

“This is ridiculous…” he muttered under his breath.

His nerves prickled when he heard the Frog make kissy noises at him. A frown bowed upon Yusaku’s brow. He was not known far and wide for having an amiable nature and he had never been curious either, kissing mirrors or whatnot so even if it was with a Frog, this would be a first kiss of any kind for him. Yusaku huffed.

“Let’s get this over with.” He muttered once more.

His head snapped back to in front of him and he rushed all into it just to get it over and done with. His lips locked with the Frog’s and he felt the distinct feeling of slime on his mouth. Yusaku clenched his eyes shut and he felt something on his eyelids. He grimaced and he had to let go of the Frog as he grew heavy.

He transformed in a blinding light and when Yusaku opened his eyes, he had to look up. A very handsome young man was now staring him down, toying with a stray curl of his wild mane of dark coloured locks, save for where it was streaked yellow. He smiled, coy and cruel with fluttering eyelashes.

Yusaku scrambled to his feet, “Y-You,” he stammered, “I know you, it’s you!”

The Frog, now transformed to the Prince like he claimed, laughed. “I don’t appreciate being pursued,” he purred, “I prefer to be the one doing the pursuing but I’m glad you remember me and my good looks after all these years.”

“How could I forget…?” Yusaku’s voice was quiet as he got over his dumb-foundedness. “You were the one who took me to that place.”

“And I hear you want to go back.” he said.

“I do.” Yusaku murmured.

“Well, as Prince Ai of the Unseelie Fair Folk, I dub thee… my crown consort.” He said with a wink.

Yusaku hazarded out a laugh. He thought that was a joke, but he wasn’t sure. He was too starstruck that after all these years, he’d finally reunited with the creature who had changed the course of his life. His heart was hammering in his chest and he was smiling with what was almost glee for the first time in ten years. Prince Ai couldn’t have looked more pleased with himself to have had that effect on Yusaku.

“Well?” Prince Ai prompted him, sticking out an arm yet keeping his hand on his hip rather firmly. “Shall we?”

“We shall.” Yusaku agreed and with quivering fingers, he did reach out and latch onto Ai’s offered arm.


	7. (A)Ice-cream

Yusaku didn’t have much of a sweet tooth but, apparently, Ai did and has simply leapt at the chance to help Kusanagi with his latest endeavour: bringing ice-cream to the Café Nagi truck.

In Yusaku’s opinion, it was the wrong season to be eating ice-cream as it was still freezing, in the throes of winter but that’s exactly why they had to get onto it now rather than later. If they waited until spring, they would miss out on the early birds who thawed before everyone else, if they waited until summer, the season would already be half-way over with plenty of missed profits. So, the time was now.

Yusaku had been content with pitching soft serve vanilla ice-cream with a choice of syrups – classic chocolate and artificial strawberry – and a choice of toppings – peanuts, sprinkles, and sherbet – because that’s all he thought would be a good, simple fit for Café Nagi. Ai was in the business of vehemently disagreeing. He wanted all of that and then some for their dear Kusanagi. He wanted various flavours, and then gelato as well and Kusanagi just laughed him off good naturedly, he said that he would take Yusaku’s suggestion and then Ai had to narrow down all his ideas of grandeur to just three.

Just three. Should be easy enough.

However, there was one flaw to that: Ai only recently came into possession of a functioning mouth which could process organic food, so now it was going to be a whole new process to get him to pick just three of what he thought was a marvellous idea. Yusaku would disagree and now Ai was being stubborn because Yusaku was right. It was a bad idea.

At the whim, Ai had gone ahead and bought him and Yusaku at least a dozen flavours of ice-cream to sample, to get a good base for what would work best for the Café Nagi branding. Given that Café Nagi prided itself on its hot dogs, Ai had picked out what he had thought would complement that the best, so similarly American flavours. Apple pie, rocky road, double chocolate, New York cheesecake because it had the words New York in its name, cookie dough, those sorts of flavours and then some others that had caught his eye as well.

Even though Yusaku really could not think of a worse way to spend a Saturday night with a SOLtiS bot than gorging themselves silly with carton after carton of ice-cream. They scraped through the top of those aforementioned flavours and Ai was having a ball at least with that. He was raking through the scalps of the freshly opened ice-cream cartoons with glee where Yusaku barely prodded the lids.

Still, Yusaku watched with fondness as Ai sampled all those different flavours for the first time. A tiny smile crept onto his mouth and he forced himself to have a little bit more.

“Argh, that apple pie ice-cream,” Ai complained, “does not taste like apple pie in the slightest, yuck. Cross that off the list.”

Yusaku snickered to himself. He knew for a certain fact that Ai hadn’t tasted actual apple pie yet, so his claims were bold but not without merit. Yusaku had nibbled off a spoon which had scraped through that cartoon and it was sticky with some kind of apple syrup, but it didn’t really have that certain essence that actual apple pie would have. But he adhered to the mental note: do not let Kusanagi stock the van with apple pie ice-cream. And then he made a second to actually go to the supermarket and get a frozen apple pie to share later. Like, months and months later. Yusaku, at least, wasn’t going to be craving anything sweet for at least three months but Ai seemed to be a different case.

He gleefully moved onto the next flavour, grabbing a carton from the kitchen table and he hiked up a foot onto the table. If Yusaku were a cleaner person, he would have scolded Ai but he let him do it, bemused by the sight of Ai rocking back on the chair, tongue sticking out, as he was deep in thought carving up the fresh carton of ice-cream. Judging from the packet, this might have been the New York cheesecake since there was a cityscape in a window-like design as part of the logo but also because it said so in slowing English, wrapping around it.

Ai moaned with delight as he had a chew on the clumped biscuit crumbs, sucking them free from the savoury vanilla ice-cream that they had been frozen inside of.

“This one’s good,” Ai said, “you should have a taste of it. It’s almost… mature sweet rather than childishly sweet if that makes any sense at all.”

“It does.” Yusaku replied curtly. “I’m glad you’re having fun.”

Ai swung around to Yusaku, holding out a spoon, freshly compounded with ice-cream and biscuit crumbs on it. He bore pleading eyes as he held it out to Yusaku.

“Fine.” Yusaku said with a sigh through his nose.

He leaned over and Ai’s hand hovered to catch any mess but his eyes. His eyes locked onto how Yusaku ate from the spoon, all dainty lips and a cautious tongue. Ai’s pupils dilated as Yusaku closed his eyes, eating from the spoon and then swallowed. He licked his lips afterwards, sounding as content as someone as naturally disgruntled as he got.

“Yeah, it was good.” Yusaku agreed. “But wouldn’t Kusanagi be doubling up on vanilla if we suggest it? It might be cheesecake but it’s still vanilla.”

Ai laughed. “Yeah, maybe.” He said and he stole another glance at Yusaku as he weighed the pros and cons of adding this particular ice-cream to the menu. It was cute. Ai’s eyes lingered on the corner of Yusaku’s mouth and something caught his attention. “Wait, hang on.”

Yusaku didn’t even have time to react to what Ai had said before Ai swooped in. He kissed the corner of Yusaku’s mouth with something of an added suckle. Yusaku blushed, burnt so hot despite how cold the ice-cream they had been eating, in the middle of winter no less, and Ai adored it. Cheesecake was a very good flavour on Yusaku, he thought to himself all smug as he drew away, only to hold Yusaku’s face and properly clean up both his leftovers and the kiss.

“Thanks…” Yusaku managed to stutter out.

“You’re welcome.” Ai bade him reply, bopping him on the nose and batting his eyelashes at him, making him burn up all the more. Although, they weren’t much closer to deciding on those ice-cream flavours for the truck but maybe it could wait a little bit longer.


End file.
